And You're My Madness
by Storm's Silver
Summary: Caius makes the mistake of falling in love with a twenty first century teenager and Athenodora's trip to Italy doesn't go according to plan. Caius/Athenodora AU
1. Chapter 1

_AN: Welcome to this story! It's written from alternating POVs, and it contains a lot of AU elements. Most of them should become clear as the story goes forward. So far, the rating is high just to be safe but the content of the later chapters will probably change that. _**  
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_None of the characters are mine. I only borrow them from Stephenie Meyer. _

* * *

**Caius's POV**

I tried to smirk as the Cullen boy and his pet human walked away from my brothers' thrones, unharmed.

I was not sorry about wanting to kill them. He had broken too many laws and he was not a complete child. He should have known the price. Aro's insane respect for Carlisle was beginning to put all of us in danger of exposure. If only Marcus was not so soft, I could hope to rein in my brother. If we both voted against him, he'd have been forced to dispose of Edward Cullen regardless of his gift.

I had noticed the way the boy looked at the plain little girl beside him. He stared at her as if she was the most beautiful person he could ever imagine. She wasn't special in any way, brown haired and cowering, but nothing in his gaze gave that away. Although I would never dream of looking at a mortal like that, something about his expression continued to bother me. He was a fool in love, I reminded myself. I had no interest in becoming like him, hopelessly enthralled with a woman. Ready to die for her, even. It was weak and that was the one thing I refused to be.

But that didn't stop me from wanting a bond like theirs.

For three thousand years, I'd been alone. While my brothers found mates and enjoyed happy marriages, I was waiting in the wings for somebody. At first I thought I'd find her by accident, like Aro did with his Sulpicia. When that hadn't happened, Didyme, Aro's sweet little sister, told me to be patient but I'd stopped listening to that advice a few hundred years ago. I was a monster, so cruel that other vampires were afraid of facing me.

It didn't matter how I felt. It didn't matter that if I found my mate, I'd cherish her as much as Marcus loved his own wife. Someone like me was meant to be alone.

I could hear our next meal waiting to come into the room, led by Heidi. I pushed my bitterness away and sat up straight on my throne. Feeding was always a competition and if I did not pay attention, I'd end up eating the worst humans she brought in, the weak and the sick.

"Welcome, my friends! Welcome to Volterra!" Aro said. He was unbearably happy, like always.

While the humans began to get uncomfortable, their hearts racing faster, I stood up. By the time I saw _her_, everything was already a blur and the screaming had started.

* * *

**Athenodora's POV**

Today definitely hadn't been my day.

_Volterra is so pretty,_ my guidebook told me. _The architecture is so interesting_, it said. _You definitely won't get blisters and a sunburn_ _in the early spring_, it said.

It lied.

I wasn't even supposed to be in Italy. In my real life, I was a college student. Majoring in biology, nineteen years old, good head on shoulders, bright future and so forth. And then, my boyfriend dumped me.

It sounded so simple when I said it like that. We'd dated since I was thirteen. I built my life around the idea of him. I'd believed him when he said he'd love me forever because I was pretty sure I could return the favor. And then, he'd found someone else, leaving me with one no-refund airplane ticket to Paris that I'd bought with most of my salary from various crappy student jobs, a week before the trip.

I couldn't imagine seeing Paris without him. The idea made me cry, and I was sick of that. I didn't want to be the sad girl who worried her friends. So I came here to forget, after buying a train ticket in France, and to be alone for a little bit. After Spring Break I promised I'd come straight home to Chicago and be normal and happy again. Or pretend to be, anyhow. The future seemed too painful and lonely to think about.

So, here I was in Italy. In Volterra, to be more specific. On St. Marcus's Day, which was apparently a big deal since everyone was wearing red to show gratitude for the... lack of vampires?

Not the worst idea for a civic holiday I'd ever heard of. Having vampires around would probably suck.

Every little bit of my exposed skin was covered in an angry sunburn and my sandals had blistered my feet. The walking tour I was on, currently taking us inside an old and cavernous castle, wasn't too interesting. I couldn't really remember why I had wanted to join it in the first place. Still, I held up my camera and snapped a few photos of the ancient hallway we were in. I could e-mail this home when I got back to the tiny room I was renting.

I slowed down, hoping that the group wouldn't go that far ahead without me, to examine a painting that had caught my eye. It looked like it was from the Italian Renaissance, but I couldn't recognize the painter. What interested me were the people in it. There were five of them, three men and two women. They looked as different as possible, with black, blond and white hair, but the _eyes... _they were identical. Dark red, visible even through the layer of dust.

_Creepy, _I decided, but before I could look much further, I was interrupted.

"You had best keep up, miss," a brown-haired man said, without a hint of an Italian accent in his musical voice. He wore dark grey, and didn't look much older than I was, but his eyes were red, the same shade as the people in the painting. I was sure it wasn't a trick of the light. Maybe it was some kind of birth defect that this entire family had, passed on for generations. Except we had been told that the castle's original occupants had moved out a long time ago. Either way, I could feel myself beginning to freak out. I practically sprinted to catch up with my ridiculously pretty tour guide and the rest of the people she was showing around. Just before I joined her, a couple walking in the other direction brushed by us. I didn't have time to look at their faces, but the man leading them said something to the guide.

When she smiled, I shivered. There was something very, very wrong here.

"Right through these doors," she was saying, "is the council room. It was used by many prominent politicians as early as the fourteenth century, although some of the stone used in its construction is probably from Etruscan architecture.

The heavy oak doors swung open with an ominous creak, and we all stepped inside. The room was round, smaller than I thought it would be, but intimidating. In the middle of it, there were three men and I could see other people gathering in the corners.

One of the women in my group began praying. Her voice was desperate.

By now, I was panicking, my stomach full of anxious fluttering. There wasn't anywhere I could run, really, and I didn't even know what I was running from.

And then, the other people, the ones dressed in grey and black, moved towards us, so fast that they blurred. I saw blood everywhere, the tourists next to me dying with their throats ripped open, the creatures from the shadows swallowing red in mouthfuls.

Before everything turned fuzzy, I hoped that none of this was real.

* * *

**CPOV**

_She _was beautiful.

I felt foolish, noticing the attractiveness of my food but it needed to be said. For a mortal, the girl was exceptional. Her skin was livid from the sun, but even that couldn't make her plain. Her hair was almost as pale as mine, but instead of looking strange, it just made her angelic. Her mouth, soft and pink and swollen where she had bitten it too hard, made me forget myself.

All I wanted to do was drain her dry, kiss her everywhere and figure out what made her laugh all at the same time. The muddle of feelings was confusing, and I hoped that Marcus was too occupied with feeding to notice my shifting bonds. The last thing I wanted was him commenting for my entire coven to hear.

I needed to get the girl, whoever she was, away from this room quickly. She couldn't leave Volterra alive but I didn't want her to die immediately either at the hands of some clumsy guard. I darted towards her, not trying to avoid whoever was in my way. Even feeding, couldn't make the Guards forget that I was their Master and they moved aside quickly. When I reached her, the girl was shaking, on the cusp of crumpling onto the floor.

Not knowing what to do, I lifted her. It was more convenient than trying to make her walk.

She was light and limp in my arms, already unconscious as I walked away from the room with the corpses.

-o-

The castle had plenty of guest rooms, but I wasn't sure which ones were clean and which had fallen out of use. I doubted anyone in my coven would know something so trivial; we did not worry ourselves with details that could be left to the lesser guard.

It would be best, I decided, to just bring the human girl into my own rooms. Nobody would dare come in there without invitation. The walk there seemed slow and too quick at the same time. I couldn't stop looking at her, marvelling at how warm her skin was. Her blood smelled delicious, like water to a man dying of thirst and I was immediately glad that I had a few thousand years of practise in restraining myself.

Nevertheless, I couldn't let myself think about it, or how stupid saving her was.

As soon as the door to my suite was shut behind me, I settled her on a low, soft couch that would be comfortable for a mortal. She seemed so small and vulnerable in contrast to the dark fabric that I didn't want to leave her. Looking around, I found a neatly folded blanket on one of the chairs. Didyme and Sulpicia had put it there, claiming that it made the room look lived in, when they redecorated a few years ago. They were probably right, though I hadn't thought so at the time and I thanked them silently before wrapping it around her.

For a moment, I paused. As though I had lost control of my body, my fingers stroked her hair. It was silky and bright and soft. Lovely, like the rest of her. The intensity of my attraction to her was beginning to frighten me. I had wanted plenty of women in the past, but this toxic combination of reverence, thirst and desire was unfamiliar. If I stayed here for a moment longer, I'd end up ripping out her throat or holding her like something precious until she woke up.

-o-

Aro and Sulpicia sat beside each other on a small loveseat. Although their posture was professional, they exchanged quick little smiles that indicated mutual adoration. Marcus and Didyme had never mastered the art of keeping their hands to themselves. She sat on his lap while he played with her long, straight hair, bunching the strands in his fingers and tickling her cheek while she giggled.

"I saved you one, brother," Didyme murmured as soon as I came into the crowded meeting room where my family waited, pointing to an unconscious young man in the corner. Her smile was so sweet that I couldn't help returning it. The fact that she cared about me still surprised me sometimes.

"Thank you, my dear," I said.

I fed quickly because I knew that my family was going to give me hell afterward and I didn't want to put it off. Keeping an unwilling human alive for a time within the castle wasn't unheard of but we discouraged it. There was a chance, however slim, that she could escape with knowledge of our existence. With current technology being what it was, that could spell the end of millennia of secrecy. Besides, having the authorities looking for a missing person was dangerous.

"How long is our new little guest staying with us?" Aro asked when I was finished, the body broken on the floor. His tone was careful, testing to see my intentions.

I stayed silent, trying to give nothing away.

"A while, I'd say," Marcus said. Beside him, Didyme grinned.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" she asked.

"Your optimism is sickening," I told her, trying for displeasure and choosing affection instead. "I haven't made plans to turn into the Cullen child and court a human."

"You are forgetting that Aro courted me when I was human," Sulpicia chimed in. "And that turned out fine."

"Better than fine," he huffed beside her, brushing a quick kiss over her hair. As giddy as my brother could be, he was steadfast in his devotion to his mate. Her presence could distract him from anything, and today I appreciated that.

"True," she conceded, melting into his arms.

They, all four of them, were so obviously delighted together that I felt like an intruder by just being there. And I couldn't bring myself to worry them. If it made them happy to think that I might have found my mate, then I'd let them believe it.

"I will tell you what will become of the girl once I've decided," I said. "I will not be careless."

I had no idea what to do with her or with myself when she woke up.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! The next chapter's out earlier than I expected. Please let me know what you think. _**  
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* * *

**APOV**

I sat up, my head fluttering. It felt like a family of bats had moved into my skull. With a dizzy rush of relief I realized that I was alive and unhurt, comfortable even. Somebody had wrapped a blanket around me and it was doing a good job of keeping the chilly evening air away. Through the windows, I could see the sunset and I wondered how long I had been out. I groped the cushions beneath me, looking for my bag. I had put my cell phone, camera, wallet and passport in it. Without them, I was completely cut off from the world.

Of course it was gone. It was just that kind of day.

"Oh good, you're awake," a voice said from a corner, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was easy to miss the person standing there, since her burgundy dress blended with the tapestry behind her. From what I could see, she was delicate and black haired, with familiar red eyes.

"You're the girl from the painting!" I said, too loud and shrill.

"You noticed. Maybe I misjudged that ugly old thing. If you recognized me, it might not be as dreadful as I thought." She sat down on the chair in front of me, and I looked at her closely. From her appearance, I assumed that she was my age or a little younger. Her face was adorable, there was no other way of describing it . Her mouth was plump and cherubic, her eyes were round and when she smiled dimples appeared on her cheeks. She was a perfect doll come to life.

And then I remembered the room where I had been taken with my tour group, the way the figures in the corners moved too fast. Goosebumps prickled all over me. These monsters couldn't be human. It didn't matter how appealing they looked.

"How old are you?" I demanded, forgetting to be polite.

"Quite ancient to you. Three thousand years or so," she admitted breezily.

"And a vampire." I didn't know where that conclusion had come from. I hadn't really thought it over. Blood and castles and red dresses all added up to 'vampire' in my mind. Blame Hollywood and too many late nights watching horror movies.

"Yes," she agreed again. "You could say that."

"What do you want with me?" I sounded shaky and very human to my own ears. I didn't even bother accusing her of lying because every inch of her seemed alien, so far removed from me that she could easily have belonged to a different species.

"If my opinion was the only one that counted, you would probably not be alive right now. My brother... well, he is not my brother by blood but we consider ourselves family... wanted to spare you," she said.

If the circumstances had been any different, I would have laughed at her bluntness.

"Do not worry, my sweet. I'll explain everything. I'll even slow down every time you make that horrified face," she continued. "Yes, that's the one," she murmured to herself. I guessed that my expression was less than delighted.

"Would you like some tea?" she said all of a sudden and the question was so surprising that I only nodded. My throat was completely dry but that had somehow escaped my notice until now.

The little vampire glided to a side table with shockingly graceful steps and returned with a silver tea tray, the kind everyone seemed to have in movies about Victorian England, along with a kettle and a pretty porcelain tea set. As I poured and mixed in the cream and sugar, she settled herself in front of me again.

"Now then. My name is Didyme. And you are Athenodora."

"Dora," I corrected automatically before realizing that she probably had something to do with the disappearance of my things. There was no other way she'd know my name.

"Very well. Listen carefully."

From her explanation, I gathered that vampires were real and that most of the stories about them weren't. Garlic, crosses, stakes and holy water didn't really have any significance to this breed of creatures. Didyme had said this pointedly with _don't try anything_ hovering as the implied warning between us. The people I happened to be with were the ancient ruling family in Europe if not the entire world. _Volturi_, they called themselves. That title sounded dramatic and sinister, which were the main two adjectives I'd attribute to vampires. Their entire reason for existence was to protect their kind from being discovered by humans.

This didn't make me feel better. Since I knew all of this, I'd either have to become one of them or die, she told me. I figured that I wasn't panicking about the existence of vampires because these two possibilities were more immediate and horrifying. Even if I wasn't killed, I'd be confined to this life in a shadowy castle. I wouldn't see the people I loved ever again and all of my plans for the future would be irrelevant. All I'd be was thirsty and lonely.

It didn't seem real. I just felt sick.

"My dear it isn't so bad," Didyme said gently. She touched my hand with her cold little palm. "If you become like us, you'll be perfect. Everything will be _more_. There is no reason to be frightened."

A rush of warmth and peace bubbled through me and I didn't know where it came from.

"Trust me," she reassured. "Now give me a moment and I'll bring my brother to meet you. You can ask Caius everything you want to know."

I was left alone again and I didn't know what to do with myself.

* * *

**CPOV**

"Your turn," Didyme said as she passed me in the corridor. "She looks terrified, poor little thing. Try to be nice."

I couldn't promise that but I tried to appear unthreatening as I walked into my room at a decidedly human pace, my expression carefully neutral.

I wanted this encounter to change my mind. I'd hoped that I'd see the girl and realize that she was plain, petty and already dying, just like any other human. It would be so easy to hate her, to dismiss her and most of me already did. And yet, part of me noticed how blue and sad her eyes were and how there was no fear anywhere in her expression. Nobody except my coven met my gaze so directly. That recklessness earned a scrap of respect from me.

"Athenodora," I said, testing out her name out loud as I sat down in front of her. It was the first time I had called her anything but _that girl_, and I immediately disliked how right it felt. It made her too significant in my thoughts, occupying space that didn't belong to her.

"Nobody calls me that," she said gently as though she didn't want to hurt my feelings by correcting me. "I'm Dora."

Her assumption that I had feelings sensitive enough to be hurt was endearing while making it obvious that she was a terrible judge of character.

"The alternative is pretty." I meant it. It was an old fashioned name but I liked it.

My preference for this strange, sunburned girl was getting out of hand. In my eyes she could do no wrong and I didn't think that way about most members of my coven.

"You're the first who thinks so," she said. She was quiet for a little bit, and then she looked at me again. "Why am I here?"

I couldn't tell her how much she confused me and how her mere presence provoked up an ambiguous rush of feelings. Admitting how much power she had over me was unthinkable. "You were dead from the moment you came into my home. I cannot just let you go." My voice was hard as I fell back on the tone I used to demand answers from guilty vampires. It had been enough to intimidate the wildest newborns for hundreds of years.

Her face was pale but she didn't look away. "But why me? You probably meet thousands of people every year and I can't believe I stood out."

"It is an instinct. Most of us just know who will become a good vampire. I cannot explain it to you." The lie sounded convincing. In any other situation it might even have been true. Aro told me that this was how he had found some of our most valuable guard members.

"In what sense?" she insisted. Athenodora did not let go easily it seemed. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to snarl at her until she was scared into silence or to talk to her until her heartbeat calmed down.

"They will be law abiding and sane," I said. After three thousand years, those traits became important. Not everybody was strong enough to survive centuries of time without slowly going mad. "An asset to the Volturi."

She considered it for a while, fiddling with the pale ends of her long, straight hair.

"When will you bite me?" she said finally. Her voice shook a little bit at the word 'bite' but she seemed resigned in every other way. That would probably change in a few days, but I appreciated not having to comfort her. My experience with tears was limited.

"If I choose to, you'll be given a little time to adjust. We've found that calm humans tend to be manageable newborns- what we call newly bitten vampires. Less likely to be tearing out the throats of the whole city, anyway."

That much was true but I knew that once again, she had questions for me. If more humans were this irritatingly curious, our existence would have stopped being a secret long ago. I decided that to be grateful that there was only one Athenodora.

"The secretary in the lobby, is she being treated like this?" she asked, right on cue. This time I could hear blame in her voice.

I had had enough. There were only so many concessions I would make for a mortal.

"There is almost no overlap between the qualifications of a good servant and a good vampire," I hissed, the threat clear. Gianna would be dead in a few months and it was worth reminding the human girl that she had no power here.

Her fear and hurt were obvious. Her chin touched her knees as her head fell.

"Do you want to go to your room now?" I said. I didn't know what else to say.

"Whose room is this?" she whispered.

"Mine."

A vivid blush flooded her cheeks. The blood, so close to her skin, smelled delicious. She wasn't my singer, but the temptation was constant. Drinking from her would bring so much relief.

"Oh!" she squeaked."I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"Why would you apologize when I brought you here?" I said, trying to be gentle. It was not helping.

"I..."

"Come with me, I said.

She followed me through the twisting hallways lined with ancient paintings and dead ends. I could almost hear her trying to memorize the directions in which I was leading her, but I quickly warned her not to wander. The room we had picked for her was not far from mine anyway and I was sure that I would hear her if she left it.

"Didyme told me that she has placed anything you'd need during the night inside," I said when we reached the door. She nodded, still silent and still upset, I imagined.

"It will seem better in the morning." A few hours in her presence and I'd begun using stupid mortal expressions in an attempt to make her smile.

I hated myself sometimes.

"Good night," she said quickly, shutting the door behind her.

-o-

I locked myself in my rooms, knowing that I should open the windows and let Athenodora's scent, like raspberries and blood orange, air out. Instead I sat in the parlor and breathed it in. I had memorized it already but I wanted it to linger. I refused to consider the implications of that or how much my sisters would tease me in the morning.

I did not intend to eavesdrop on what she was doing. That seemed invasive and like something that Aro would enjoy. Three hours later, after midnight, I heard sobs echoing through the walls. She cried quietly, probably with a pillow pressed over her face and it took all the will I had to not go to her and ask her what I could do to comfort her.

Her weaknesses, despite being human and pathetic, were starting to become mine.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Thank you for the favorites and reviews, everyone. I appreciate all of them. I'm still working out the balance of POVs in this story. If you've got an opinion relating to whose perspective you'd like to see more of, let me know please. _

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**CPOV**

Aro never announced coven meetings. After knowing each other for so long, we had an instinct when he wanted us to gather. This morning was certainly going to be one of those times. We needed to discuss the Cullen boy and that entire infernal family. My teeth were already on edge. I had said that Carlisle was a fool from the beginning and too weak to handle a coven of his own. My brothers had hoped that he would change with time but I had never been that optimistic.

I dressed quickly, discarding the more comfortable clothes I wore at night. Because there was nobody here to impress I chose a suit instead of formal robes.

I was proud of myself. The night had gone by quickly and my thoughts had gone to Athenodora- _the human girl_, I corrected, only a few times. I could still think and act like myself and that was proof that this couldn't be the beginning of a mating bond. If it had been, I would probably resemble Marcus when he first met Didyme. He could barely string a coherent sentence together in front of her.

Before I left the part of the castle that I shared with my family, I listened for the quiet murmur of Athenodora's heartbeat. It was muffled but steady and I felt relieved that she had at least fallen asleep immediately before I reprimanded myself for caring.

I was the third to arrive in the council room. Aro was already there and so was Sulpicia. My sisters attended our councils only when they wanted to. Didyme didn't come too often but Sulpicia was always there. She was perfectly reasonable and collected, optimistic even, making me wonder exactly how many of my ideas actually belonged to me and how many were suggested by the innocent looking blonde woman beside Aro. I admitted that I agreed with her most of the time.

Marcus and Didyme wandered in a few minutes later and sat down beside each other around the table. Their hands were tangled together and they showed no sign of wanting to let go. Although I had become completely accustomed to their affectionate displays, this one made me feel slightly wistful.

"My dear ones," Aro announced when we had all settled down. "We must discuss yesterday's events."

I was glad he had brought that up. I was still seething about the Cullen boy and my brother had given me the perfect chance to express that displeasure.

"The Cullens are a problem," I said. "Their numbers are growing too quickly for my liking."

"They are not interested in power," Marcus said carefully, "but it seems that Carlisle has no control over his son. Their bonds were uncertain."

Aro listened with his eyes closed. His strategy had always been to let everyone else speak so that he could have the last word and appear the most insightful. It was effective but it irritated me sometimes.

"Can't we assume that yesterday's drama was just a youthful indiscretion on Edward's part?" Sulpicia murmured.

"My darling, you are right. These could be the actions of a man in love," Aro said at last. "But Carlisle should have more control over his children. If he isn't doing his job we must."

"I will send someone to watch them," I offered. Most of the guards with fewer or no talents were free to travel. Since the Cullens had not met them, their gifted daughter, the little one with the high pitched voice, would not be able to follow their choices with her gift.

"Please do," Aro agreed, resting his chin on his fingers. "If the girl is mortal in a few months, then we will discuss less pleasant options."

"Do you want her gift?" Didyme asked. It was a good question. Aro would be much more forgiving towards this Bella Swan if her ability was desirable.

"Yes," he admitted. "I don't enjoy the existence of a shield that can be used against me."

"You should not have mentioned her potential shield to the boy, brother. There was a chance that he was too distraught to hear every detail of your thoughts," I added angrily. I could not guess how much the mind reader had found out from us. Hopefully his heartbroken state had kept him from discovering most of our secrets.

"That may have been foolish of me, yes. Or it may have made the threat more convincing to him," Aro said lightly.

Marcus sighed. "And if the Cullens refuse to change the girl, what will we do?"

"We could, of course, make the situation as messy as possible Take her from them and turn her ourselves," Didyme offered. "Whether we return her or not is another matter."

"Oh good, our collection of frightened human girls will grow. Charming," Sulpicia murmured, giving me a pointed glance.

"Or," Aro said pensively, "we could find someone else to destroy her for us. The Cullens must have enemies."

My grin matched his, sharp and hungry.

* * *

**APOV**

I was starting to get used to waking up in unfamiliar places. The initial panic didn't last as long as it did yesterday. Outside the window, I could see the beginnings of a grey dawn. I hadn't slept for too long then. I uncurled myself from the pretty white and blue covers and looked around the room.

Somebody had come in and put a neat pile of clothing on the chair. Even in the early morning gloom I could tell that these were my clothes, the ones I had left in my suitcase in the room I was renting. It was becoming clear to me that these creatures I was staying with were efficient. They'd already made it look as though I had moved out of my Italian apartment. Very soon, I was sure, my college would receive an e-mail from my account saying that I had decided to take some time off for personal reasons. In a few months all traces of me would be gone. And if someone decided to look for me… well, I had just seen my captors kill a roomful of people.

I had to get out of here. The thought stuck in my brain like a thorn. The sooner the better.

Obviously I was at a disadvantage. Vampires, according to Didyme, had better senses than any human. I couldn't outrun them and I wasn't hopeful enough to think that I could outsmart them. My only real chance was getting outside and staying surrounded by people. If they were worried about staying secret, the Volturi couldn't do anything to me then.

I showered quickly and pulled on something from the pile of clothes. I couldn't really say why I was rushing, since nobody in this castle slept anyway and there was no possibility of me catching them unaware. My fingers shook badly when I tried to pull back my hair so I just decided to leave it down. I only noticed that I had put on a turquoise sundress when I glanced into the mirror. The fabric always made my eyes appear bright and blue, instead of their usual subdued grey. Somehow, that made me feel better. It reminded me that I was still human, not a red-eyed and thirsty monster.

My door creaked a little when I opened it, but that didn't worry me. The only people who knew where my room was were Caius and Didyme, and they would probably assume that I was still sleeping. A tiny squeak of wood could hardly bother them.

I walked down the hall as quietly as I could. There were doors everywhere and most of them seemed dusty and disused. I was looking for the opposite: a passage into the tunnels below the city. My tour group had come in through one and it'd make sense for vampires to prefer the underground to open sunlight. Even if they didn't catch fire during the day, they looked too perfect to pass among humans.

After a few minutes, I found a narrow door along the wall that faced the inside of the castle. I opened it hesitantly and breathed in damp air and darkness.

_Perfect._

* * *

**CPOV**

It took me less than twenty four hours to lose the human girl. This was perhaps the most incompetent thing I had done in the past thousand years.

I thought that she would have the common sense to remain where I had left her. A castle full of vampires and she decided to go wandering- that kind of foolishness angered me. She could not have walked too far in between the time I had departed to speak with my coven and now but I worried.

She could, however improbably, have found a way out which presented a fresh set of problems.

She could be hurt.

The second thought sent a jolt of pure panic through me although the consequences of the first were worse. It took me a moment to gather myself again, and then I listened. The hallway outside the room where she had slept was abandoned, but her scent lingered. I followed it, until I reached the door in the walls that led through the castle and under it, into the tunnels.

I should have been relieved by that. There was no way that a human could navigate them alone. It was entirely dark under the earth and dozens of twisting paths ensured that uncovering a way out was impossible without vampire senses. Athenodora would be found quickly. But I couldn't help dwelling on the thought that she must be terrified. The blackness and dampness was unpleasant for me; it must be similar to being buried alive for her.

It took me a few minutes to find her. She was in the narrow corridors running beneath the castle's west wing, away from the more dangerous sections but far from the exits as well. She was walking slowly, dragging a hand against the wall to know where she was going. Seeing her was a relief and I tried to approach her while making noise, so that she wouldn't jump out of her skin when she finally saw me.

She turned around to face me slowly, her expression turning immediately resigned.

"What do you think you are doing?" I snarled, angry and ugly. The echoes made the sound even angrier.

"I was trying to find the way out," Athenodora said. Her voice was soft but there was something unrelenting in it too. She did not flinch away from me this time either.

"And it never occurred to you that exploring vampires' dungeons was beyond foolish?" I continued. Some of these rooms were not purely ornamental. We kept our immortal prisoners here as well, dismembered and mad from thirst. If she had somehow managed to encounter one, her end would have been brutal.

"I've been threatened with death twice in the past day. That tends to put things into perspective," she said. She was past being hurt, it seemed. Now she had moved on to anger. Although it did not suit her gentle features, I couldn't help admiring its fierceness.

"Do not try that again," I said at last, letting weariness enter my voice. I could not chase her every moment of the day, seeing accusation blossom in her eyes every time I found her and stopped her from leaving. "What happened to your ankle?" I added, remembering that she was walking oddly.

"I fell. It's fine, it's not even sprained." She wobbled where she stood so I did not quite believe her.

"Allow me." I offered her an arm, wondering whether she would be too proud to take it. Her hand wrapped around it without hesitation and I considered the possibility that she was bothered by the pain but reluctant to admit it. She was as gauzy and fragile as Didyme or Sulpicia but her skin felt practically feverish contrasted with mine and I found myself enjoying the touch more than I should have.

With her, I wanted to prolong everything including the many instances when she was making me furious.

Slowly and carefully, I led her out from the catacombs in silence. She didn't complain but I could see her grimacing every once in a while when she put too much weight on her foot. In a few minutes, we stood on the lower level of the castle. My eyes lingered hungrily on the exposed skin of her throat and the slim lines of her body. The light press of her hand against me was too much and unbearably little at the same time.

"You have not eaten. Would you like to?" I said quickly, remembering one of Didyme's thousand suggestions. It was as much a distraction as an act of concern.

"Yes," she murmured, making no move to let go of me. I minded less than I thought I would.


	4. Chapter 4

**APOV**

"If I take you to the library, do you promise not to wander off again?" Caius said. His voice was completely neutral but I preferred that to snarling.

I nodded. There was nothing I could really say. Taunting the homicidal monster struck me as lethally stupid. And yet, the homicidal monster was being very patient. He let me clutch his arm when I was trying to walk on my sore ankle, measuring his steps so I wouldn't struggle keeping up. He watched quietly as I ate breakfast, his expression wavering somewhat hilariously between curiosity and disgust. I was still horrified by him but a little bit of gratitude had gotten in the way of that.

"This is one of the libraries," Caius said, leading me into a beautiful white-and-gold room. There were tall windows everywhere and full shelves from floor to ceiling. A few peaceful paintings hung in distant corners. "The more recent books are housed here. I did not think you'd care for shards of clay covered in cuneiform," he continued.

"It's lovely," I said and I meant it.

"My brother Marcus is very proud of his collection."

Marcus, I dimly remembered, was Didyme's mate. I had wondered at the word choice when she'd said it but I didn't have the presence of mind to ask more questions then.

"I have work to do," Caius said quickly. He had his moments of sharpness and uncertainty and I did not know what brought that to the surface.

He retreated with a vampire's speed and I was soon left alone with dust and books and sunlight.

As I walked through the room, I decided that Caius was most likely trying to be nice. He probably thought that a few first editions of Austen and Shelley would keep me occupied for days, distracting me from how awful my situation was. In normal circumstances, I would have already been beside a book case choosing something to read. Today I had other plans.

Vampires, especially vampires who seemed to care about appearing polite and civilized and educated, probably kept some kind of written records. Histories, maybe. If I could find them, I would figure out what the Volturi wanted from me. I wasn't the first human they had taken with the intention of turning them into an immortal, no doubt.

I began to feel a little hope. I was good at research, at least.

As I paced through the aisles, I noticed that most of the books here were published in the past two hundred years. All of them were beautifully bound and taken care of. I promised myself that if I survived the next few days, I would read all of them. Finally, at the back corner of the library, I found a glass fronted case full of journals. They were organized and free of dust but the pages were uneven and it looked like extra pieces of paper were tucked between the covers.

This is what I needed. I opened the first few books gently. They were hand-written in English, and I sank down onto the carpet gratefully as I read.

I figured out just how scary Caius was by the time I read the first ten pages. Every decade or so, he killed some group of immortals for offenses that ranged from the predictable to the fairly terrible. There was no evidence of mercy in these judgments. Everyone died for the crime of one person.

Abstractly I could understand and almost forgive vampires. They fed off people because they had to. I could be terrified of them but I couldn't begrudge them their survival instinct. That said I couldn't comprehend why the Volturi were so needlessly cruel to their own kind. If their history was any indicator, they were almost tyrants. Whoever the author of these was, he or she didn't use that particular word but I could read it between the lines.

While I read, I stumbled upon something else. _Gifts_ came up every few paragraphs. Some vampires had extra abilities and that made them valuable, apparently. The down side was that it was incredibly hard to tell what they'd be, or if they'd be there at all, before a human was turned. The odds were pretty low anyway—only one in fifty vampires had any kind of gift at all, and most of them were useless.

And then, it hit me. Caius lied. It was a clever lie and I had believed it until seconds ago, but still. He couldn't know whether I'd be a good vampire before turning me. He'd never been in charge of recruiting potentially gifted humans before so he probably didn't have any kind of intuition towards it.

There had to be something else he wanted from me.

Suddenly, I didn't even want to speculate.

* * *

**CPOV**

"I need to speak to you, brother," Sulpicia said. She had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, moving soundlessly despite wearing her favorite heels. She grabbed my hand and I followed her into her study, a meticulously tidy room decorated in shades of red.

"I will admit that you made a good choice with the human girl," she told me after I had sat down. A thin silver computer was on her lap and her fingers blurred over the keys. "She has less family than the usual mortal."

Sulpicia was shockingly good at using technology. Breaking encryptions and tweaking files was second nature to her. We teased her about it sometimes, saying that her habit of being meddlesome was finally being put to good use. Still, I had to admit that it was a useful ability to have. I had no doubt that she'd spent the morning trying to figure out everything she could about Athenodora or more specifically how to electronically erase the existence of Athenodora.

"Her brother raised her after their parents died. Automobile accident, the records say," she continued.

That should have been good news. The likelihood of anyone reporting her missing was decreasing but I felt a twinge of…_something_. Curiosity, I would say. I wondered what precisely happened to the girl's parents and whether she missed them. Whether she had been lonely growing up.

"And he won't look for her?" I said, quickly dragging my thoughts away from sympathy. If I took pity on every human with a sad story, I would never feed.

"Marcus thinks not for a while. Their bonds appear affectionate but distant." Sulpicia shut her laptop gently. "He'll assume that she's busy at school, or some such excuse. Mortals are so good at separating themselves."

I had nothing to say to that. I hadn't cared about the inner workings of human minds for three thousand years.

"Try to be kind, brother. Didyme is already attached," she said, taking the moment of silence to give me unasked for advice.

I almost rolled my eyes. Didyme grew attached to everyone without a good reason.

"It would be so much easier if Athenodora just stayed where I left her," I said under my breath while Sulpicia grinned. "Do you think Chelsea will help?"

As soon as the words had left my mouth I wanted to take them back. For some inexplicable reason I wished that Athenodora would stay here in Volterra because it pleased her. The sentiment was ridiculous. Only Marcus would think of something so foolishly compassionate. The approval of a human did not matter in comparison to keeping our existence secret, and I couldn't allow myself to forget that.

"Give Chelsea something to work with. If your little human girl hates us there will be no bonds to tighten," my brother's mate said, pragmatic as always. "And if it's any consolation, I fell in love with Aro long before he could employ Chelsea's help."

"You guessed my motives," I said coolly. "I want to recreate the strange and overwrought relationship you have with your husband. It is everything I have ever dreamed of." The sarcasm was terribly obvious.

She laughed, tossing her golden curls back and I found myself smiling too.

* * *

**APOV**

"Tell me about mates, please," I demanded as politely as I could when I saw Caius again in the evening. He wore the pained expression of someone checking up on an unwanted guest but he settled beside me on the floor anyway.

Somehow, even in his dark suit, he looked graceful while I looked too clumsy to ever belong in a room like this. From this angle, I could finally look at him properly, without making it obvious. Deciding upon adjectives to describe him was difficult. His face was entirely angular, and I couldn't begin to guess his age when he had died. I couldn't even decide whether his hair, perfectly white and stark, was the result of extreme blondness, a genetic anomaly or premature graying. There was nothing attractive about him but he still exuded cold charm.

"Why?" he said, curt as usual.

"It shows up all over the place, and it's an unusual term. I get that 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' are undignified, but what about other titles?" I explained, hoping that he'd think that this was only academic interest. I was fairly sure that his answers would give me some idea why I was really here.

"It loses something in translation, but _mate_ implies something visceral. Less of a choice than humans have." He sounded uncomfortable when he admitted that.

"So you don't get to pick your partners?" If vampires only mated because of an instinct, it would make sense that some immortal wanted me without getting to know me.

"We have some choice, but once we find them, the bond is unbreakable," he said, still not quite looking at me. "One cannot sever it even if one wished to."

I knew that I was wincing. His words had just spelled out how permanent my imprisonment here was. Whoever wanted me- and that was really the only explanation I could think of for me being kept alive- would probably never stop wanting me. That struck me as a little tragic, but mostly unfair.

"And that's better than the messy human way of getting together?" I said carefully. The flashbacks of the break-up in my very recent past made me immediately re-think the skepticism in my voice.

"Yes. It keeps one stable," Caius said. "And it is supposed to be the source of one's greatest happiness excluding human blood."

"_Supposed_ to?" I asked, brows raised. "Are we dealing with hypotheticals?"

"Yes," he admitted.

That answer worried me. I wanted to hear that this strange, white haired vampire had a mate whom he cherished and that I was here for a completely different reason. So much for wishful thinking.

"But why…?" I murmured, not sure how to ask him why he had been alone for so long. How could he have gone three thousand years without meeting anyone who caught his interest?

"I realize that there is no way to stop you from asking questions." He sighed, exasperated, and I worried that he'd be angry again, his eyes darkening from red to black. "Would it be fair if I asked you in turn?" he said instead.

I nodded silently.

"What do you like to read?" he said.

The sudden interest in his voice scared me more than hissed threats. If an ancient immortal condescended to ask me something casual, his motivations were far more intimate than adding another person to his guard. It felt like I was trying to breathe underwater.

_Oh no. Oh god, no._

* * *

_AN: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Sorry that this chapter took a little longer. _

_ I received a suggestion in the reviews to limit each chapter to one character's POV. I gave that a try and it didn't work out very well unfortunately. I think this is going to be one of those stories with shifting perspectives. Also, be assured that this story will have its fair share of fluff though it might take some time to get to that stage. _


	5. Chapter 5

**CPOV**

"We haven't met Athenodora yet, Caius," Aro said conversationally.

Across the council table from him, I looked up from the reports I was reading. Talking to my brother would be a relief compared to deciphering Felix's handwriting but this particular topic did not appeal to me.

"I thought you would be overwhelming. She does not need more motivation to hate us." I couldn't imagine Aro interacting with any human using care or caution.

"Oh I do not intend to overwhelm her. Just the usual procedure," he said.

"How am I going to tell her that you want to read her every thought?" I countered. We were all accustomed to giving Aro our hands. At least he didn't linger, never bothering to examine each memory one by one. He took what he needed and left the rest of our minds alone. In the case of the human girl though, he would be interested enough to look at everything. I knew that would disturb her even before I had mentioned it to her.

"You know it is necessary dear brother," he said.

"Very well." I couldn't find a logical reason to disagree with him and I wasn't about to make an argument based upon a human girl's hurt feelings.

"If you explain the reasons behind it, I'm certain that she will not mind so much," Marcus suggested.

"And perhaps we will find that she's gifted," Aro added, grinning like he always did when he considered adding someone to our coven.

I felt a stab of something protective and unexpected in between my ribs. I did not care if Athenodora had a gift and dragging her into our ambitions and games seemed cruel all of a sudden. She was not asking to join us, after all. This defensiveness made no sense however, so I stayed silent.

* * *

**APOV**

Two weeks in Volterra had lulled me into a kind of calm. Somewhere along the line, my brain decided that it had a choice between being terrified during every waking moment or simply waiting for something to happen. It had gone with the second option.

I mostly spent my time exploring the library. Occasionally I could feel someone watching me, but when I looked over my shoulder, whipping my head around so fast that my hair flew everywhere, they were already gone. Caius was more direct. If he wanted to observe me, he just sat in front of me, a pale, beautiful statue, and stared while I read. He was so good at staying motionless and silent that I stopped minding

Maybe he was only curious about me, nothing more. At least that's what I hoped for. I didn't really like to think about the fact that I'd adjusted so quickly to spending time with a vampire who wanted something from me. Most of all, I ignored the thirst in his eyes. Its intensity repelled and attracted me at the same time. The opposing feelings were too strange to reconcile.

Today, though, something was different. Caius walked into the room I was beginning to call mine without knocking. Instead of the usual suits that apparently passed for casual clothes among immortals, he was wearing the long dark robes I had only seen once before. Everything about him- the set of his shoulders, the slash of his scowl- seemed both angry and hesitant. I had never seen him express those emotions towards me before, although he was famous for them.

"Come with me," he said. It was an order, and I was immediately afraid.

"Where?"

"My brothers would like to meet you," he told me. That was the polite way of putting it, I decided.

"I was scared for a moment there," I admitted. "You look… worried." _And if you're worried, I'm dead_, my thoughts added quickly.

"Aro reads minds. He is interested in yours." Caius did not meet my eyes.

"_What?_" I said.

He'd assume that I was reacting to the idea of having my thoughts invaded. That was partially true. The other half of my confused response stemmed from his obvious dread of telling me this. As if he was somewhat interested in my opinion on the matter.

"When he touches you, he will see all of your thoughts. I'm sure you can imagine why this is necessary," he said, proving my theory. Aro's gift shocked me with its power, but I had begun to understand that all of the Volturi were exceptional. I wanted to ask Caius whether he had an ability too, but thought better of it at the last minute. "

"No." My refusal wouldn't change anything; I already knew that. Simply saying it made me feel a little better, though.

"You do not have a choice." There was nothing authoritarian in his tone now. Mostly, he just sounded unhappy.

"How can you live with that?" I wondered. It seemed like an enormous violation of privacy and a reminder that nobody could be trusted completely. After three thousand years of having my thoughts casually watched, as he did, I'd have gone mad.

"I do not have much to hide," Caius said bluntly, before taking my arm and leading me out the door.

His fingers rested cool and light on my skin. The sensation wasn't entirely unpleasant. Somehow, I had come to associate it with protection, which just proved that my brain was malfunctioning.

-o-

The room I found myself in was much smaller than the chamber with the thrones and the grate in the floor. It seemed more casual too, like a boardroom or an office. Two dark haired men already sat in chairs alongside a mahogany table. Both of them had the delicate skin and burgundy eyes that I had begun to associate with Caius and Didyme. The youngest of the pair looked on the verge of a welcoming smile, and I jumped to the conclusion that this was Didyme's mate. They seemed to suit each other.

The other immortal intimidated me and I couldn't decide why. He was thin and tall, but nothing about his face was menacing. Maybe there was something subtle in his movements or expressions, an indicator of the power he held. This had to be Aro. Caius took his seat on this man's left, and I watched them exchange a few words, too soft for me to hear. Then, the dark-haired vampire stood up.

"Miss Athenodora," he said. "Caius tells me that you are a clever girl. You can therefore guess how terribly strange your position is here." His voice sounded feathery and sinister at the same time.

I nodded mutely.

"While I trust my brother's judgment, I am most curious to know more about you. I hope you can understand that."

It was hard to keep track of what Aro was saying. He was lying, that much was obvious. Still, I didn't know enough about this strange, smiling vampire to guess what he actually wanted.

Suddenly, he was standing in front of me, hand extended. There was nothing else to do but place my fingers on his palm and wait. I expected to feel something while he read my mind, a headache maybe or the sensation of memories flashing before me, but nothing like that came. Instead, I just watched while Aro's eyes closed and his mouth turned upwards into a grin.

"Very interesting," he said lightly. His fingers crooked into a 'come here' gesture, and he said something softly. It sounded like 'Jane'. A little girl glided to his side, a beautiful child with round, red eyes. I wondered how old she was, and how long she had served Aro. There was something terribly practised to her arrival. She smiled when she looked at me and there was no kindness there.

In an instant, everything burned, as if fire had been poured into my veins. Every twitch of muscle made the pain intensify, and I couldn't open my mouth to scream. Even counting the seconds in my head didn't work; I couldn't focus long enough for that. The agony was unimaginable and all-encompassing.

And then it stopped. I couldn't feel anything at all, my vision and sense of balance completely cut off. I couldn't even hear my breathing and heartbeat. The small corner of my brain that remained rational whispered that this was probably my nervous system responding to the shock of the burning. That didn't help at all, and I found myself blindly panicking. Being dead was better than this. Being buried alive too.

"Enough."

Suddenly, everything was normal again. My senses returned immediately, and I found myself standing shakily in the same spot where I had been before, facing the same little girl and a dark-haired boy at her side. It was Caius who had spoken.

"She clearly does not have a shield," he said to Aro, who nodded peacefully in response.

Their conversation, calm and unworried, reminded me just how powerless I was in this situation. If they didn't mind torturing me, they certainly would not care about killing me. I expected that kind of callousness from Aro and Marcus because they had no reason to act differently. I couldn't believe I had been stupid enough to expect mercy from Caius.

I could feel myself wobbling on the spot. The aftershocks from pain and paralysis were making me dizzy and I hated myself for being so pathetically weak. I couldn't endure anything here without fainting or falling or stumbling. Being mortal seemed like an impossible liability. For one stupid moment, I considered agreeing to immortality just so I could stand a chance against these creatures.

In the space of a blink, Caius appeared at my side. "I will bring her here again if you need her," he told his brothers while wrapping a steadying arm around my waist.

"Come, Athenodora," he said. "You need to rest."

He was terrible at caring. Every movement of his was uncertain and hesitant, as though he'd never done this before, or forgotten how to. I'd received less awkward reassurance from total strangers. Nonetheless, I realized that although Caius was undoubtedly a monster, he was also trying to be on my side.

* * *

**CPOV**

Once again, I settled Athenodora on the couch in my chambers. She looked white as marble, her skin sharply contrasting with the deep, rich colours. In this light, the shadows under her eyes were prominent, and she looked so delicate that I could break her with a touch.

"Why…?" her voice shivered before she could finish the question, but I could guess what she wanted to know.

I hated the Cullen boy and his pet even more. Aro had never tried the twins' gifts on our various mortal visitors before, but the Swan girl's aberrant brain resulted in my little human being tortured.

"Jane and Alec's gifts affect everyone in the way you experienced. Having them on our side secures our rule. Aro is eager to determine whether someone can resist their powers before making that person immortal," I said.

"Are you hurt?" I asked when she didn't reply. I desperately wanted to touch her. My feral side demanded that I comfort her and reassure myself that she was all right immediately. Settling for the absolute minimum, I curled my fingers around her hand and stroked the smooth skin of her wrist.

"I'm fine now," she said quietly. "But that was awful." There was a tremor in her voice that I had not heard before and she didn't raise her eyes from her knees.

"It will not happen again," I said, so vehemently that it was almost a growl. "I did not know Aro would do that. I should have predicted it, and I apologize." For me, this was practically babbling but I meant every word of it. If my brother tried something like that again, I could not say what I would do to his witch children.

"I'm so tired," she said, her shoulders sagging. "Whether you want to kill me or transform me or _whatever_…please, just do it and get it over with."

Her broken expression was unbearable and for an instant I thought that I would say and do anything to make her smile again.

"What can I give you?" I said, thinking of everything the Volturi could buy or steal or make. "What would make you happy?"

"I don't know anymore," she admitted. The fabric of her skirt was creased where her fingers had crumpled it again and again.

Because I did not know what else to do, I wrapped my arms around her. The embrace came easily, almost without thinking. As soon as I touched her, I felt content. The reaction was instantaneous and undeniable, unlike anything I had experienced before.

_Human_, I reminded myself. She was human and imperfect and pitiful. Her heartbeat, fast and shallow, was a constant reminder of that as was the delicious promise of her blood. Despite that, she was so soft and fragile in my arms. The novelty of warmth surrounding me made me forget everything else. I could only focus on the smell of raspberries that clung to her skin and the silky scrape of her hair under my hands. And most of all, I could not ignore the feeling of rightness. Every cell in my body screamed that Athenodora belonged here, so close to me that I could feel her breathing.

She did not pull away from me. Instead she shifted closer while the pressure of her hands on my shoulders increased a little. I refused to pretend that she wanted anything to do with me because I was not in the habit of lying to myself. Fear and loneliness probably drove her to this more than anything else.

When she eventually let go, I nearly hissed in displeasure. Her eyes were a little brighter and some of the terror was gone.

"I still don't trust you," she told me warily.

Nobody had dared to say that to my face in a few centuries. Instead of being angry, I found myself trying not to grin.

"I know."

* * *

_AN: Sorry for the late update. All of my awesome readers get a big thank you for their favs and reviews. Your comments mean a lot to me and I really do consider your suggestions in my writing. As usual, please let me know what you think about this chapter. _


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